Batman: Rise and Fall
by SUPAHxMONKEE
Summary: Dick Grayson is determined to make Nightwing a known and feared name. When Tim Drake is captured by this new 'Red Hood', Dick is only eager to snatch the opportunity, only to realise that being a vigilante isn't as fun as you think...
1. Prologue

"Let him go, Roland."

The hulking beast smirked.  
>"Let who go? I do not understand what you are talking about?"<p>

"I'm not here to waste time, you either tell me where he is now or you can tell me after I break your arm in three places."

Roland just laughed. It wasn't a nervous laugh, he laughed in confidence.

"I apologize, vigilante, but you will never reach him in time."

"Where is he! Where the fuck is Robin!" His fists were raised, the vigilante was getting frustrated.

"Fine then, he is in Gotham, but of course, you'll never reach him in time, five more minutes and the bomb blows!"

Roland began laughing again, in spite of the vigilante's distress.

"Oracle, call Batman! Now!"  
>His earpiece started screeching, he was out of range? Impossible! Unless…<p>

"Sorry boy, we got five comm jammers located around Bludhaven, you ain't contacting your friend to save little Robin, you're stuck here."

He turned to leap out through the window, but an entire round of bullets shattered through, forcing him to retreat, right into the swing of Roland. He ducked, and hammered four quick jabs into Roland's chest, and swung for a roundhouse kick, which Roland deflected and smashed him in the jaw. He pirouetted, and Roland delivered a brutal chain of three haymakers, and finished it off with a low kick to the vigilante's leg. He fell, and Roland, with his giant hand, grabbed him and tossed him across the room effortlessly. As the vigilante regained himself, the warehouse where Roland and himself occupied was soon crawling with thugs, criminals and lowlifes. The formed a circle around the combatants, minimizing the vigilante's ability to escape. There really was no option now. He was going to have to break the fat man's arm.

They squared up to each other. The vigilante was planning his every move, every twitch of his muscle, and every contingency he may have to resort to. He stepped into to range and Roland swung at him, and the vigilante ducked, grabbed Roland's arm and brought his two knees up to meet the arm. With a sickening snap, Roland screaming and flung the vigilante off him. The whole warehouse went quiet. The spectators hushed in shock, wondering what was to happen. Roland was on the floor, clutching his arm, sweat rolling down his face and drenching his business suit. The vigilante grinned, and turned to the spectators.

"Who's next? Huh? Anyone!?"

No one dared step in to face the vigilante. Suddenly the crowd began cheering, screeching and screaming in shock.

The vigilante turned to look at Roland and gasped in shock Roland's shirt was ripped open and his shoes were stretched into leather strips. Roland roared, a terrifying screech that echoed into the night.

The vigilante stood shocked.

"Roland?"

"_No more Roland,_" grinned the beast, "_Just Blockbuster."_

Blockbuster launched from his powerful legs and charged towards the vigilante. He leapt up, trying to avoid Blockbuster, but he was grabbed and tossed into the crowd. He was grabbed and tossed about by the spectators, and it took a solid minute for the vigilante to finally escape the spectators before realizing a full blown brawl had broken out. A fist flew in at nine o'clock, but he ducked it, and crushed the attacker's nose with his padded fist. He caught the glint of a metal bar swinging, aimed for his head, but he ducked that also and the bar clattered into the previous thug, mangling his nose to a pulp. He uppercut the thug wielding the bar, but was caught off guard by a giant hand. His head snapped back rather dangerously, and then his whole body was lifted up by a giant foot and he slammed into another group of brawling criminals.

The criminals trampled him, stomping on every body part they could, and the triple weaved Kevlar didn't aid much in the pain. The vigilante rolled over and dropped a pellet on the floor….

Which exploded into a white light.

The vigilante had his eyes shut like a blast door, making sure the flashbang didn't blind him.

He peeked, and was overjoyed to see that almost all the criminals were felled by the flash.

Except Blockbuster.


	2. Interrogating An Idiot

**_Hey guys, just letting you know this is my first fic, please review it and show me my errors ^.^_**

**_Btw I totally botched up like two parts on the prologue, woops _**

**_-Supah_**

"What were you thinking?"

"Look, I'm sorry, ok? I'm just happy Tim's safe now."

"If it wasn't for me Tim would be dead."

"Look Bruce, I'm sorr-"

"No apologizing will make up for this! Your recklessness almost cost Timothy's life, and you apologize?!"

"Well what can I do to make it up then?!"

"I'm prohibiting you patrolling for a month."

"What? You can't do that, I'm not your fucking Robin anymore!"

A fist slammed into the table separating the speakers.

"You will never swear to my face again! I do not care if you aren't Robin, I do not care if you are an adult, I am the authority here; And you will obey!"

Dick Grayson left Bruce Wayne's study rather apoplectically, slamming the door with vigorous strength and almost breaking the hinges.

"I take it Master Bruce is not happy with you, Richard?"

"You seem to excel in hearing a man shout, Alfie. Something I wouldn't expect of a man of your age."

"You seem to excel in infuriating the most lethal human on the planet. It would take an invertebrate not to hear Master Bruce raise his voice."

"Whatever. Where's Tim?"

"He's currently using the medical facilities in the Batcave."

"Thanks… Alfie."

"Bruce wasn't happy with you, was he?"

Dick grunted.

"Thanks, for trying to save me. Bruce doesn't realise you were just doing the write thing."

At least Tim understood.

"I couldn't leave my little brother held hostage."

Tim beamed; As a former fan of 'The Flying Graysons', being told by Dick Grayson, that he was his little brother, was really special.

"What happened back here? Bruce was too pissed at me, he only told me you were safe."

"Some guy called Lester Buchinsky kidnapped me. He calls himself the Electrocutioner."

Dick snorted

"Stupid name"

"I know right? I was knocked unconscious with a twenty thousand voltage punch from Buchinsky and the next thing I knew I was in the Gotham Light and Power warehouse, tied to a chair with an explosive that contained pentaerythritol tetranitrate at my feet."

Dick gasped, consternated.

"That stuff is serious, nitric acid mixed with pentaerythritol. Thank God, Bruce got to you in time!"

"Yeah, one thing Bruce can't figure out is why Buchinsky kidnapped me. He reckons some hired him."

"Did Bruce not confront him yet?"

"Nope, he said he had already tracked him down, he's moving in tonight."

Nightwing responded instead of Dick.

"Not before I do."

The rain was torrential that night. Not that Lester cared. He got his money, and was looking at his Electrocutioner suit that was lying on the bed across the hall from him. He had only gotten to start playing the baseball game he missed yesterday. The Gotham Guardians vs. The Blühaven Bloodhounds. Oh boy, this game was going to be sweet! He got the three six packs of Heineken, and his pizza that he ordered should be here any second now.

_brrrng brrrng_

Awesome, there's the pizza there now.

Lester unlocked his door and before he could open it the door was kicked off its hinges.

"Man, I so wanted to do that earlier."

Said Nightwing as he stepped on the door.

"Hello? Lester? You there?"

Lester tried to speak, but Nightwing's weight on the door was crushing him.

"Huh, he must be out."

The weight pressing down on Lester suddenly disappeared, and Lester heaved the door off himself, only to have the door slammed back down on him. Repeatedly.

Ten more door slams later, and Lester had a broken nose, a dislocated arm and a cracked knuckle.

Through the door slamming and sobbing Lester finally cries out;

"St- stop! Stop! Please!"

Nightwing pretended to be shocked.

"Dear God, would you look who it is? It's that weirdo that runs around electrocuting teenagers and tying them up to a chair beside explosives. Your a sick individual with a stupid name."

Lester whimpered;

"It's not a stupid name."

Nightwing flung the door off Lester, then picked him up and slammed him against the wall of his apartment.

"Who are you working for?"

Lester croaked, as he tried to breathe with the vigilante nearly cutting off his air supply.

"I swear, I'm not wo- *ach*."

Nightwing cut his air supply off;

"Do you take me for a fool, Mr. Child-Beater Stupid-Name? Almost every single damn criminal says that, and it gets annoying after a while. So I'm going to ask you again, and I'm going to say it slowly. Who. Are. You. Working. For?"

"Please…. He'll ki-kill me if I tell…"

"Who?! You have me to worry about right now!"

Nightwing brought his knee up to Lester's stomach and headbutted him, mangling his already broken nose.

"Tell me!"

"Th-the Red Hood! He hired me to take the kid!"

"Where is he now?"

"I dunno, man! He just showed up, told me to do a job and paid me for it!"

Nightwing let go of Lester, and he dropped in a heap on the floor, groaning. Nightwing turned to leave, but Lester attempted a half-arsed kick, trying to trip Nightwing up.

"Did you just try to trip me up, Mr. Stupid-Name?"

Lester realised that he shouldn't of tried to kick the vigilante and he kinda mumbled shyly;

"No, no, course not.."

Nightwing kicked Lester full on in the chest, which Lester responded by vomiting.

Nightwing turned to leave, once again, but this time he mumbled;

"Seriously, that guy has a stupid ass name."


	3. Dead Ends

_**Noticed a format issue last time, but I rectified it this time ^.^ Keep sending in reviews to show me my faults**_

_**One Love**_

_**-Supah**_

"Hey Timothy, how are you feeling?"

Bruce was putting his suit on, ready to interrogate Lester Buchinsky.

"Still a little bit woozy, but other than that I'm alright."

"Good. The burns are healing, you should be ready to patrol within a fortnight."

Tim grinned;

"Just happy to help boss."

Bruce smiled as he fit his gauntlets on his wrists.

"I guess you can go and ask Alfred for breakfast then."

Tim gingerly stepped out of bed and plodded across the cold cave floor towards the elevator.

"Timothy, were you talking to Dick?"

"Yeah, he's pretty pissed off."

"I would imagine. I didn't see him leave though."

"He left through the waterfall."

Bruce was going to let the child walk on as he believed Timothy, but Bruce had a feeling the child wasn't telling him something.

"Did you tell him what happened to you?"

"Yeah, why?"

Bruce put the cowl on.

"Did you tell him who did it to you?"

Timothy grimaced;

"Yeah."

Bruce clipped on the belt, and Batman answered;

"He went after him."

Nightwing was crouched atop of the Clocktower, which was near the GCPD Headquarters, scanning the city.

"Oracle, cross reference the name 'Red Hood' with crimes in the last two weeks."

"The Red Hood; Involved in eight drug-related assassinations, sixty-four counts of assault, three accounts of manslaughter, previous accounts of damage to property and vehicles."

"Where was his last location?"

"City Hall District, caught on camera two hours ago."

"_I have eyes on Brute. Oracle are you sure this was his last location?"_

"Affirmative"

He had his eyes on what it looks like a drug dealer, Oracle said he was the last one in contact with this Red Hood.

Nightwing was going to pounce off the roof but he was dragged back and flipped over.

"Batman?"

Batman stood above Nightwing, his cape billowing in the wind, his glare foreboding.

"I thought I prohibited you from patrol, did I not?"

Nightwing flipped backwards, kicked Batman in the chest and pushing him away.

"I don't need you to stop me going out."

Batman's face seemed to be etched out of stone. There was no trace of emotion, he wasn't angry, he wasn't disappointed, but he was judging Nightwing.

"I thought we already established who is the higher authority here."

Nightwing grinned.

"There's always going to be rebels, old man."

And with that, Nightwing turned and leapt of the roof, Batman hot on his tail

Alfred was busy cooking breakfast for Timothy. He asked for grill-up, but Alfred insisted he would make his infamous waffles to go alongside it. Timothy yawned, before realising he was still in pajamas.

"Hey Alfred, I'm just heading upstairs to get changed."

"Of course, Timothy."

Timothy was gone for a good ten minutes, which gave Alfred plenty of time to cook up his breakfast.

"He's probably just having a shower.", Alfred mumbled to himself.

After fifteen minutes Alfred got a little worried.

Twenty minutes later, Alfred decided to go search for the young teen.

"Timothy?", Alfred called out to the hallway.

As Alfred said that, a vase dropped, as if someone was startled.

Alfred strode up to the corridor where the noise emitted, and he drew a short sword from the side of a medieval knight that stood in the hallway.

He slowly stepped into the corridor, and saw the grandfather clock that hid the entrance to the cave wide open.

He hit the button for the elevator, and waited for it, sword raised.

The elevator came to a halt, and the doors shuddered open.

Alfred stepped in, and descended to find out just exactly what was going on

Nightwing landed in front of the dealer, bounced off the ground and punched the dealer in the nose. The dealer's head snapped back and he fell to the ground, curled up in a ball.

Nightwing stepped over him and repeatedly slammed his right fist against the dealer on the ground.

The dealer was trying to breathe with the water on the street and the blood from his nose sloshed in his face.

"Where is the Red Hood? Where is he!"

The dealer tried to say something but it just came out as a gurgle.

Nightwing smashed the dealer with his fist again.

"Where?!"

"gu gon't gow!"

"What?!"

He pulled the dealer up from the street and punched him again.

"Say that again!"

"Ughh, I, I, I, dunno."

Nightwing glared at the dealer and beat him to unconsciousness.

"You could of gotten other information about the Red Hood, but you knocked him out instead?"

Nightwing turned and spat on the ground in front of Batman's feet.

"Why do you care?"

Batman glared at Nightwing again.

"I'm working on this case too."

Nightwing caught Batman by surprise and punched him under the jaw and the punch sprawled Batman on the ground.

"Just stay away from me!"

The elevator opened, and Alfred stepped out into the gloom of the Batcave.

"Alfred Pennyworth. I've heard a lot about you."

Alfred spun and faced the speaker.

"Who are you?", said Alfred, pointing his sword at the speaker.

"Me?", laughed the Red Hood.

"I'm just an old memory coming back to haunt this family."

Then he attacked the old man.


	4. A Death In The Family

_**Hey guys, excited for this chapter to go up, because this kinda is the oh shit moment**_

_**Keep posting constructive reviews yo!**_

_**One Love**_

_**-Supah**_

Alfred slashed at the Red Hood, but the blade was deflected by a wrist gauntlet strapped to the Red Hood's leather jacket. Alfred quickstepped backwards, and drove the sword into the Red Hood's chest with the speed and precision of a master swordsman. The Red Hood didn't have time to block the blade, and it embedded into the kevlar behind the leather jacket. Alfred glanced down and raised an eyebrow at the red bat symbol painted on the kevlar vest.

"You have no right to wear that symbol.", said Alfred, rather accusingly.

The Red Hood grinned, not that Alfred could see for he was wearing a mask, and slapped the sword out of the vest.

"No oldman, I've earned it."

The Red Hood swung for Alfred's head, which Alfred ducked(and cracked his back) and continued to swipe at the intruder…

* * *

><p>Batman was furious. How dare Nightwing hit him! How dare him!<p>

_No_, thought Batman, _I can't let the boy get in my way of this investigation. _

_But where will I start to pick up the pieces?_

Batman glanced down at his feet, looking at the unconscious criminal.

_Better fix what Nightwing broke…_

* * *

><p>Alfred was exhausted.<p>

_This is not what a man my age should be doing.._

"I see your tiring, old man."

Alfred actually snarled, a burst of adrenaline pumped through his veins.

"I don't work here for no reason, you scumbag."

The Red Hood responded with a kick, which Alfred swung his sword down the sever his leg, but before the sword could connect with the leg, the Red Hood's fist connected with the side of the old man's skull…

* * *

><p>"Tell me everything you know about the Red Hood."<p>

The dealer had awakened.

"He runs around, tryna control the drug trade in Gotham."

"Obviously in contention with the Black Mask then?"

The dealer flinched when Black Mask was mentioned.

"Oh, you used to work for the Black Mask, but now this Red Hood is forcing you to work for your own life. Am I correct?"

The dealer started stammering;

"Y-eah, I-I, ain't got no cho-choice man! I gotta feed my family! I gotta feed them!"

Batman glared at the dealer.

"Then you should get a proper job instead of dealing."

The dealer shook his head;

"Nu-huh man! Once ya go inta dealin', you ain't ever gonna go back!"

"Anything else I need to know about the Red Hood?"

"He wears this red helmet, like a hood, I guess thats where he got 'is name yanno? He also got that bat thing on his chest."

"Anything else?"

Batman raised his fist, intimidating the dealer, when his earpiece buzzed.

"What is it Alfred?"

"Oh no buddy, I'm afraid Alfred isn't gonna be speaking for a while."

The voice was most certainly not Alfred's.

"Who are you?"

The voice laughed maniacally.

"Don't matter who I am, Mr. Wayne, meet me in front of Jason Todd's grave. I got ya boy Timmy here."

Batman was left speechless. A very rare occurrence.

The line was cut, and Batman was just left with the dealer.

* * *

><p>Nightwing was sitting a top of the bell tower again, thinking about his next plan of action to hunt down the Red Hood.<p>

"Dick, this is urgent."

Nightwing rolled backwards onto the roof and turned to face Batman.

"I thought I fucking told you to leave me alone.", Nightwing snarled.

"Dick, he -"

"I don't care what the dealer said, _Bruce_. Leave me the hell al-"

"For fuck sake Dick, the Red Hood has Timothy!"

"What?! Where!?"

* * *

><p>Tim Drake was tied to Jason Todd's grave, with duct tape prohibiting his ability to speak.<p>

"Ah I see you guys showed up."

Nightwing ran straight at the Red Hood and sent a flying kick in his direction.

The Red Hood side stepped it and smashed Nightwing in the groin area with his fist.

Nightwing dropped to his back and the Red Hood picked Nightwing up and flipped him onto a gravestone beside Tim.

Batman started to step into range of the Red Hood and the Red Hood pulled out two handguns, which Batman quickly identified them as Sig Sauer's, P226 to be exact.

Batman slapped one gun of the Red Hood's hand but the Red Hood kneed Batman in the stomach, which Batman responded by slapping the other Sig Sauer out of Red Hood's hand and into the air. The Red Hood punched Batman in the chin, spun around and kicked the Sig Sauer out of the air, into Batman's collarbone. A gunshot rang through the graveyard.

Batman roared in pain and was flung backwards.

Nightwing had only just recovered from his back-cracking over a grave, and leapt at the Red Hood. Nightwing wrapped his arms around his neck, but the Red Hood grabbed him by his hair and tossed him into a grave, directly in front of Tim.

Nightwing went to scramble back up but the Red Hood shot him in the leg.

Nightwing yelled in pain, and applied pressure to the wound.

"Well, well, well.", said the Red Hood, smirking(yet again, under the red hood)

"It seems like I'm the better man here."

He turned dramatically, and crouched down in front of Tim.

"This is why I've brought you two here."

The Red Hood pushed his gun beside Tim's temple but before he could pull the trigger;

Nightwing flung a wing-ding with all his strength at the Red Hood's back.

The Red Hood rolled out of the way of the wing-ding, and looked up at Tim, ready to finish the job.

"Well, what would you know?", said the Red Hood laughing.

"Look's like you killed the boy before I could, Grayson."

The Red Hood stood up and walked away, revealing that Nightwing had embedded the wing-ding straight into Tim's skull.


	5. Inner Conflict

**_Your reviews really are inspiring me guys, so please, notice any mistakes or grammar issues, (or if you think this storyline is dope like me;3) drop a review3_**

**_One Love_**

**_-Supah_**

_2 months later_

"Richard, I see you've been doing your leg exercises."

"Mhm."

Dick sat topless, with his bare back against the batcave.

"Master Bruce has instructed me to give you orders. There are two."

Dick glanced up, his hair long from not being cut for two months.

"I'm not getting patronized by Bruce about that."

Bruce and Dick haven't talked since Tim died. Dick always mumbles that Bruce needs time for his collar bone to heal.

"Richard, it wasn't yo-"

Dick glared at the old man, and whispered quietly, in rage.

"I threw the weapon.. I killed the boy… And I'm taking the blame…."

Alfred raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Very well, but I am to tell you that since your leg is almost healed, you are going out on patrol soon."

"I'm questioning if I can spare the Red Hood's life.."

Alfred nodded.

"And with very good reason, yes. But we are not to kill him, this is not what this family does."

"Mhm."

Alfred sighed, even though the old man can seem emotionless, he rather likes the company of the bat-family, and was distraught on hearing the news of Tim's death.

"I've upgraded your suit, it was long overdue."

"Mhm."

"I've always given you twin eskrima batons, which have electric tips."

"Mhm. I think I might go out on patrol tonight."

"Absolutely not. At the moment you are too violent to handle anyone, and you are to meditate for at least two hours straight."

Dick pushed himself off the wall, and stood towering over the old man.

"You are got to be kidding me."

Alfred had the smallest hint of a smirk on his face.

"It will pay off, Mr. Grayson. Trust me."

* * *

><p>"You showed up! I thought you would never believe me?"<p>

The Red Hood clapped in delight as he caught sight of him.

The meeting atop the rooftop was going splendidly. He actually arrived!

"From what I gather, you don't even have the money yet."

The Red Hood grinned(under his red hood, of course).

"You're right, but there is a massive weapons trade going on tonight, and that's where I nab your money!"

"The deal with Black Mask and 'Roman' Falcone?"

"The very one! What do you say?"

"You bring me the money, then we'll talk about the details."

The Red Hood tilted his head.

"Be back here in an hour."

And with that, The Red Hood leapt off the rooftop.

* * *

><p>Dick Grayson sat down on a ledge, beside an underground waterfall, about two miles from the base of the actual Batcave.<p>

"What do I know about meditating?", he whined to himself.

_Close your eyes dumbass, that might be a start. _

Dick obeyed what his 'dick'head of a conscience he had.

_Be calm, listen to the crashing waves of the waterfall._

Dick listened intently to the waves, hearing the water roar and crash against the small lake below.

_See, thats nice and calming, right?_

"Yeah, I guess."

_Good. Now that you are calm, first time in about three months, mind you, I'm going to talk sensibly. _

_You are not responsible for the death of Tim Drake._

"But I-"

_SHUT UP!_

_You are here to be calm…_

_You are not responsible for the death of Tim Drake._

_The Red Hood is.._

"Should I kill him? To avenge Tim?"

_And go against everything growing up with Batman has taught you? We are here to protect, not destroy. No killing._

"Then what should I do?"

_You're going to go after the Red Hood, you are going to beat him, you are going to throw him into Arkham Asylum and let him rot there._

"But I have no leads?"

"You're not going to get any leads sitting on your arse in a cave."

Dick spun and saw his parents.

"Mom? Dad?"

"Yes honey," Mary smiled sweetly,

"We're here for you."

Dick shook his head.

"No, you can't be, I seen you die."

John laughed,

"No my boy,we're alive and well!"

"You've grown so big!", Mary cooed.

"Give us a hug."

Dick stared at them in disbelief.

_You're here to meditate Grayson, to free yourself from the past._

"No. You're not real."

John went to sweetly respond, but Dick stood up and turned to face them.

"No, you're not real, and you'll never be real. You're dead."

With that, Dick Grayson strode on past his parents.

"Dick?"

That wasn't his parents voice. It was Tim's.

Dick turned, and his parents were no longer there. Only Tim stood there, with a large scar on his forehead.

"I'm alive, happy to see me?", the boy grinned.

"You're not alive, Tim Drake. You are dead."

"No way, come on, hug it out?"

Dick scoffed in disbelief.

"I've had no choice but to blame myself for your death, and you want me to hug someone that no longer exists?"

Tim pouted,

"Come on, I'm-"

"Shut up. You are dead, and I'm over that now."

Dick turned and walked away, and glanced back one more time, to see that the cave was now empty.

Dick strode on, grinning to himself.

"Gotham, beware, Nightwing is a changed man, and you're about to know it!"

* * *

><p>"You only took forty-three minutes. You said an hour."<p>

The Red Hood grinned, he was doing a lot of grinning lately.

He flopped the large bag of money that was strapped to his back at his feet.

"Check it."

The other man unzipped the bag.

"From what I can see, there is roughly fifty million dollars in that."

He lifted a brick and examined it. All five hundred notes.

"Fine, let's discuss the details."

"Great!", exclaimed the Red Hood.

"Word is going around Nightwing is soon to be patrolling again."

"I've heard nothing about that."

"That's because the word wasn't going around. Two months ago I shot Nightwing in the thigh, and I only ripped through muscle and tissue. It should be healed, and Nightwing is a stubborn little shit."

"I'm to kill the vigilante?"

"Absolutely!"

He went to pick up the bag but the Red Hood put his foot on top of it.

"That money is for Nightwing and Batman, mate. Batman still is injured. He was shot through the collar bone. I take the money, you kill the pretty boy, you get half, and wait for the bat to show his pointy ears, kill him, get the other half."

The assassin grunted in confirmation and turned to leave.

"Don't fuck this up Slade."

Deathstroke turned his head to the left, where his single eye made contact with the Red Hood's.

The one-eyed glare was a pretty clear answer.


	6. Harbor Brawl

**_Thanking y'all for the nice reviews! ^.^_**

**_Keep it up!:D_**

**_One Love_**

**_-Supah_**

Nightwing dropped onto the scenes at Gotham Harbor.

Black Mask's gang versus the Falcone family, time to do some detective work.

Nightwing crouched down and examined a gun wound that a sharply dressed Falcone member received to the chest.

It seemed to be a handgun, as it was a small enough wound, but it was expertly placed through the heart.

Nightwing scooped out the bullet lodged in the heart and examined it.

"Oracle, run ballistics on this bullet."

"9mm, derived from a Sig Sauer, P226."

"Cross reference Sig Sauer P226 with crimes in the last two months."

"Only crime referencing Sig Sauer P226 within the last two months is the very crime scene you currently are examining."

"Mhm. Contact Alfred."

"Contacting…"

"Richard?"

"Alfred, I'm in the middle of an investigation, I need you to patch me into the BatComputer."

"I'm not sure if Master Bruce would be content with this."

Nightwing sighed;

"Don't let him cloud your judgement."

"Fine, as you wish."

"Alfred, cross reference Sig Sauer P226 with crimes in the last two months."

"From what I see, the last incident in Gotham with a Sig Sauer is the incident with the Red Hood and Tim…"

"Hmh, so the Red Hood is the main suspect for this."

Nightwing stood up to leave, but he heard a slight _poof _like a bullet fired through a supre-

Nightwing twitched his muscles in his upper back and neck and his body reflexed out of the way of the bullet.

Nightwing turned and faced the person who pulled the trigger, who was situated about fifteen feet away.

"Um, I think you have something in front of your eye."

The shooter tilted his head.

"Alfred, who is this guy?"

"I believe that is an assassin called Deathstroke, AKA Slade Wilson."

"Anything I should know?"

"He's a spliter cell government super soldier who can use ninety percent of his brain."

"Isn't that fucking dandy?"

"Are you done doing your research?"

Nightwing raised an eyebrow.

"So you talk?"

Deathstroke shook his head in disgust and caught Nightwing off guard by accelerating at over fifty-six kilometers per hour and swung for Nightwing's head.

He flipped over Deathstroke, drew his batons mid air and brought them down in a flying arc at Deathstroke's head.

Deathstroke ducked out of the swing and Nightwing landed on his feet for less than two seconds before he was caught in the gut by a underhand strike, but before he could register the pain he was struck another six times and was caught a seventh time across the jaw. His head snapped back and Deathstroke rose his foot and caught him in the gut and sent him stumbling. Nightwing stood on a body and slipped backwards and Deathstroke rose his boot to crush his skull but Nightwing jabbed his baton into Deathstroke's heel and his leg spasmed and clattered into the ground beside Nightwing. He crawled atop the assassin and jabbed his batons into Deathstroke's ribs.

Deathstroke's upper body shook madly but he managed to bring his masked head up and nut Nightwing.

Nightwing clattered backwards clutching his nose, and Deathstroke flipped backwards off the ground onto his feet. Nightwing scrambled to his feet expecting another barrage of flying fists.

*_slinkt_*

Deathstroke slid his sword out of the scabbard.

"Well shit."

Deathstroke swung the blade with finesse, and Nightwing dodged out from the swinging arc.

Deathstroke continued to push further with the sword, but Nightwing was able to dodge with ease. The tricky part was to attack Deathstroke, as he was pressing Nightwing further and further back.

Nightwing dodged back again and flung a wing-ding in hope to distract Deathstroke, but he just raised his sword and it clinked, metal against metal.

Deathstroke swung for the left shoulder of Nightwing, which Nightwing ducked his left shoulder backwards, but it was too late until Nightwing realized the assassin had feinted, and he felt a red-hot pain sear up his right arm. Nightwing went to throw a punch with his right arm in retaliation, but realized the blade had sliced through a few nerves in his arm and it went dead.

Deathstroke went to attack again before Nightwing caught him off guard by directly grabbing the sword with his good arm.

Deathstroke took one hand of the sword to punch Nightwing in the face, but Nightwing swiftly brought his boot up into Deathstroke's balls, but Deathstroke merely grunted and punched Nightwing full on in the face. Nightwing's head snapped sideways, but he brought his boot up again, and saw Deathstroke's eye twitch. Deathstroke punched him in the face again, but Nightwing kicked Deathstroke again, then moved in and smashed his knee into Deathstroke's groin. Deathstroke's grip on the sword loosened, and Nightwing ripped it out of the assassin's hand and hurled the sword off the harbor into the ocean.

Deathstroke stumbled away, doubling over in pain.

"You.. little prick."

Nightwing grinned,

"It's in my job description. 'Be a prick to supervillains.' I'm quite good at it."

Deathstroke picked his posture back up.

"I'm no supervillain kid,"

he says as he slowly unsheathed a dagger from his thigh,

"I'm just doing my job."

Nightwing scoffed,

"Must be a great job, losing your eye and all."

Deathstroke actually snarled, the loss of his eye was a personal matter, nobody will ridicule him about it.

He accelerated towards Nightwing and pounced with the agility of a cat, but Nightwing rolled out of the way.

Deathstroke swung the blade backwards, but Nightwing ducked and grabbed the knife wielding arm, and brought his knee up and connected a little high above the elbow.

Deathstroke roared in pain and ripped his arm away from Nightwing's grip, but the assassin's elbow bone had popped and was sticking out through his kevlar.

Nightwing took this as an advantage and was going to clamp Deathstroke in a sleeper hold, but Deathstroke launched a surprisingly powerful kick to his gut and sent Nightwing flying onto his arse.

Deathstroke snapped the bone back into place, and roared in pain.

He turned and was going to smash Nightwing's jaw in with a kick, but Nightwing had disappeared.

_Damn it, he flared up my senses so he can get the drop on me._

_Get the drop?_

Deathstroke looked up but it was too late as Nightwing dropped onto Deathstroke's shoulders and slammed his batons both sides of Deathstroke's helmets and electrocuted the assassin into unconsciousness.

The body slumped and Nightwing slid off, but stumbled and landed painfully on his bad arm.

"Alfred, I need you to send in the Batwing."

"I'm not sure if that is-"

"Send the damn plane in, if my arm doesn't get medical attention soon I'll lose all movement in it. Send the Batwing in. Now."


	7. Third Party

_**Hey guys, I had to take a break from Nightwing so I thought I'd concoct a little chapter with the Red Hood!**_

**_Drop a review or favourite, be pretty sweet3_**

**_One Love_**

**_-Supah_**

The Red Hood sat on a vent on the rooftop where Deathstroke was supposed to be meeting him.

"You were supposed to kill the pretty boy, not scratch his arm."

The Red Hood turned to see a very bloodied Deathstroke, with a very noticeable tear at his right elbow.

"He was not the character I was told I was going up against."

"Oh really? Who was it you went up against then?"

Deathstroke growled,

"You told me he was arrogant and impatient, I went up against a cool, collected vigilante, not a cocky child in an outfit."

The Red Hood stood up and drew himself to his full height of six foot. Well, he didn't look anything to the assassin who was six foot four, but the Red Hood certainly is still intimidating.

"You disappoint me, I thought a super enhanced assassin could do the job."

Deathstroke was getting really annoyed now.

"Why did you hire me to kill the kid if you seem to know so much about him?"

"Ah, well,"

The Red Hood grinned,

"I'm just a lazy bastard, wanted to see the boy dance, you know?"

Deathstroke ripped off his mask and Slade Wilson bellowed in response,

"You knew that I couldn't take the boy on?!"

The Red Hood chuckled, but his voice dropped to a whisper,

"Yeah…. You yell at me again and I'll throw over the fucking edge."

The greying assassin grunted and turned away from the man under the red hood.

* * *

><p><em>Two hours later…<em>

A black 4x4 van pulled up at the side of the Ace Chemicals tower.

"Stay sharp boys, we got some freak who fucked up our last gig with the Falcones, weapons out at all times."

Four men got out of the van, one of them obviously in control of the entire operation. The other three men wore black suits and a black mask over their face to remind everyone who they work for, while the fourth man wore a sleeveless black shirt, wore leather gloves with his face covered with a white skull. He had a gym bag, presumable full of money, slung over his back, and he held two Glock 42 handguns.

The group turned the corner and saw six sharply dressed men, in black suits also, but lacking their masks, lying against a jet black limo.

"You heard 'bout the shoot up at the harbor, _cranio faccia_?"(English: Skull Face)

said a young man sitting on the bonnet of the limo, wielding a single Beretta 92 Compact. The Falcones preferred most of their stock to be Italian. Nothing like a good 'ol handgun made from the old country.

"The deal was going along smoothly, Alberto, a third-party interrupted the deal."

"Mr. Falcone to you, _brutto bastardo _(English: Ugly Bastard). We aren't exactly friends, and we don't want this 'mysterious third-party' of yours ruining this deal. Johnny, show them the weapons."

Johnny briskly walked to the end of the limo and opened it, revealing the weapon cache.

The 'skullface' examined the weapons and passed the money over.

"Alright boys, with me."

The three gang members went to get in the limo with Skullface to leave, but something heavy dropped from the roof and smashed on top of the limo.

"_Cazzo!_", Alberto yelled.

"_Gaetano! È morto!_"(English: Gaetano! He's dead!")

"Hold your fire boys.", a rather cocky voice exclaimed from the rooftop.

Johnny glanced up and saw the Red Hood glaring down at him, and Johnny whipped his Beretta out of his jacket holster.

_**BANG!**_

The bullet hit Johnny's head with such force that his head was ripped from his two shoulders, but only hung on by his spine.

"_Figlio di puttana! Giovanni!_"(English: Motherfucker! Johnny!)

The Red Hood dropped from the roof.

"Maybe you might understand this better," he growled.

"_Getta la pistola, fica!_"(English: Drop the gun, ****)

The remaining Falcone's dropped their guns, and the Black Mask thugs also dropped their firearms.

"Alright Skullface, I'm the third party, okay? Now listen to me very carefully. I want you four guys," He says as he points out the Black Mask thugs,

"To work undercover for me. In exchange you get to keep your lives. Got it?"

They nodded frantically, fearing their lives.

"Meet me here in two days, same time. Now scram."

They jumped into the limo and the limo shot off like a rocket.

The Red Hood emptied a clip into the back of the limo as it drove off.

"_Ora è il momento di affrontare con voi idioti!_"(English: Now it's time to deal with you idiots!)

"_Cosa vuoi?!_" (English: What do you want?!")

Alberto cried out.

"_Voglio che uccidere i vostri ragazzi!_" (English: I want you to kill your boys!)

"_Questi sono i miei fratelli! Mai!_" (English: These are my brothers! Never!)

"_Bene, io ucciderò io stesso!_" (English: Fine, I'll kill them myself!)

Staying true to his word, the Red Hood shot four bullets, and only Alberto was left standing.

"_Merda santo!_" (English: Holy shit!)

"_Corri, ragazzo ricco, correre!_" (English: Run, rich boy, run!)

Alberto ran faster than he ever ran before.

"Fuckin' hell, I didn't think I could speak Italian that fluently!", the Red Hood chuckled. He turned and walked off, leaving the five dead Italians to be found by the police the next day.


	8. Mysterious Interrogation

_**Hey guys, new chapter, leave a constructive review like always:3**_

**_This chapter has been rewritten twice, just saying xD_**

**_One Love_**

**_-Supah_**

_2 hours later…_

Alberto was sitting against the wall in the dining room of his father's penthouse. Blood trickled through his busted lips. Carmine 'The Roman' Falcone, his father, was out of town 'doing business' as he called it, and left Mario in charge. Mario gave Alberto full freedom with the weapons trade, while Mario was directly involved in the drug trade.

The dining room was a mess. The long table was flipped and most of the chairs were broken. Mario had returned and heard that most of his best boys were clipped. The outcome wasn't at all pretty.

Alberto managed to turn his head and look at the window beside him. How did that end up broken in the fight? He didn't remember anyone going through a window.

Alberto then twisted his head back again and became dizzy. He tried to blink it off but he then realized he had a right black eye.

"_Cazzo._"

He tried to get up but he ended up slouching back down to the floor.

He was in agony, he got smashed to bits in that fight. Wasn't really a fight, more of an assault.

A creaking noise emitted from the general direction of the door which was to his right, where he couldn't see.

"Mario, please. I'm sorry."

His footsteps were slow. Agonizingly slow.

_He's intimidating me_, Alberto realized, _and he's doing a damn good job_.

This was it, Mario was going to deliver the final blow and crush his skull with a shattered leg piece off a chair.

The footsteps were getting louder, but they still were slow, and Alberto was really beginning to expect the worst; In other words, die.

The footsteps stopped. He was right beside him. He's going to die.

The floorboards moaned as Mario slouched down beside Alberto.

"You're in bad shape buddy."

_Il cazzo? That's not Mario's voice!_

"You can't see me, can you?"

He tried to move his head, but this mystery person yelled at him,

"Woah, woah! Take it easy, don't try to move your head."

Whoever the hell this person was, he didn't seem like he'd kill Alberto, and that was a relief.

"I'm here to ask you a few questions."

Was this a cop?

"I cannot answer any question you ask me.", Alberto groaned weakly.

"I'm afraid you will have to, or you'll end up with much more severe injuries."

Now that wasn't very professional, this guy is probably not a cop.

"What do you want?", he managed to croak.

"I need you to tell me what exactly happened outside Ace Chemicals."

"Why are you asking me?"

"Gaetano Viti was the only recognizable victim at the scene, and he's directly related to this family. Tell me what happened."

Alberto groaned, of course it was down to that idiot to get him in trouble.

"This guy… He killed Gaetano…. We were exchanging weapons… With Black Mask's gang…. Then he dropped Gaetano… Told the Black Mask crowd to meet him back there in two days….. Same time as the deal….. Killed my boys…"

You could almost hear the joy emitting from the mystery person.

"Finally, I can confront that bastard."

The mystery person then stood up to leave, and nudged Alberto with his foot.

"If I see you dealing weapons again, I'll leave you to rot in Arkham, you understand, Falcone?"

"No way… am I ever… gonna go back into weapons…. I swear…"

Not that it mattered, the mystery person had already left.

Alberto put his head back and hoped that he would pass out.

"So you're not going to deal in weapons anymore, little brother?"

_Cazzo, that's Mario's voice!_

"No… I didn't mean it…."

"Oh did you not now?"

Mario emerged from the shadows of the room, into the eyesight of Alberto.

He was holding a Mateba revolver in his hand, and he had a sadistic smile on his face.

"Brother…. Please.."

"_Zitto, bastardo traditore!_"(Shut up, you traitorous bastard!)

"_Fratello…. Ti prego, perdonami….._"(Brother…. Please forgive me…..)

"_Io non sono un fratello di un traditore!_"(I am no brother of a traitor!)

Mario pushed the barrel point blank into Alberto's face.

"_Addio, è merda inutile_!"(Goodbye, you useless shit!)

* * *

><p>Nightwing was walking on a rooftop across from the penthouse after interrogating Alberto Falcone.<p>

"Alright Alfred, I can finally track the Red Hood down to a location and we can stop with the cat and mouse shit."

_**BANG!**_

The gunshot came from inside the penthouse.

"Shit! Should I go back in there?"

"Richard, whatever has happened has happened. There was no retaliating gunshot."

Nightwing took one more glance at the penthouse and grimly turned away to plan the downfall of the Red Hood.


	9. He who hides under the Red Hood

_2 days later…_

"You sure it's in the same place, Skully?"

Skullface nodded,

"He said be back here, same time, two days from now. It's been two days."

The crook snorted,

"Going back to a crime scene, is he crazy?"

They turned the corner and the crook bumped right into the Red Hood, who was waiting for them.

"Talking shit about me, huh?"

The crook fell backwards stuttering,

"Uh, uh no, not at all, no no!"

The Red Hood tilted his head and chuckled.

"So listen to me you drug-peddling scumbags. I will be running the drug trade from now on. I'm offering you morons a deal. You go about your business as usual, but kick up forty percent to me. That's a much sweeter deal than the scraps Black Mask is leaving you. I'm giving you a wire to keep connected with me."

Skullface stood forward and took the wires, distributing them to the three other criminals.

"And no dealing to children, got it? And if you do, you're dead. Now run along, I've a meeting with an old friend."

The four criminals turned and sprinted away from the alley.

"Now it's time to deal with you, Grayson!", as he turned and fired three shots.

* * *

><p>Nightwing was observing the whole debacle from an adjacent rooftop, and watched the criminals leave the alleyway in a rush.<p>

"Now it's time to deal with you, Grayson!", the Red Hood yelled and he spun and fired three shots at his exact location.

Nightwing threw his body off the rooftop and landed in front of the Red Hood. He slid the escrima sticks off his back and dropped into a fighting stance.

"I expected you to interrupt my meeting, what the hell took you so long?"

"Shut up and fight.", Nightwing grunted.

Nightwing swung his batons in an arc, trying to smash the Red Hood's head between them. The Red Hood ducked and shot Nightwing point blank in the chest and blasted him off his feet.

Nightwing tucked into a ball and rolled backwards, landing upright on his feet.

"Why did you bring a gun to a fist fight?!", Nightwing vented angrily, as he picked the bullet out from his triple weave kevlar suit.

"You're mistaken, you brought your fists to a shootout."

Nightwing dropped back into stance.

"The Bat-Family don't use guns."

The Red Hood laughed as he tucked away his gun.

"How ironic."

The Red Hood swung a punch which Nightwing ducked, but he got smashed in the chin when the Red Hood lifted his knee. Nightwing flopped backwards and the Red Hood proceeded to land a deadly barrage of punching and kicking. Nightwing was able to block one kick with his forearm but the Red Hood reversed, spun three hundred and sixty degrees and two touch kicked Nightwing on the jaw.

(For all of you who don't know what a two touch kick is, it's when you use one foot(one touch) to launch yourself into a 360 spin and land a kick(two touch).)

The kick very nearly knocked Nightwing out, but he was able to scramble away and gain his bearings.

"You're supposed to be one of the best fighters in Gotham, what's up dude?"

Nightwing wiped the blood off his face as he got back up, delivering the infamous bat-glare.

"I'm only getting warmed up."

Nightwing flung his escrima stick at the Red Hood, which caught him off guard, and the electric tip slammed into his chest and he fell to his knees, his upper body twitching with shock. Nightwing broke into a full sprint and brought his foot back and punted the Red Hood's helmet, shattering a portion of it. The right side of the Red Hood's helmet was shattered, only revealing a piercing green eye with a thin cut above it, marring the rest of his face.

Nightwing scooped his escrima stick up and smashed the Red Hood in the face again, deepening his cut. Nightwing twirled the escrima again and was about to deliver the final blow when the Red Hood's leg lashed out, and smashed Nightwing in the groin. Nightwing doubled over in pain and the Red Hood kicked him in the face, ripping Nightwing's domino mask off, and cutting his face above the eyebrow and cheek.

Dick Grayson staggered backwards, clutching his face.

"You motherfucker!", Dick exclaimed in agony.

"Karma's a bitch, 'dick'head.", the Red Hood growled.

The Red Hood shakily stood up, nearly falling to his knees again.

Dick wiped the blood off his face, but the cuts still poured blood out like a fountain.

The Red Hood slid a knife out of his belt.

"I put my gun away and you start using sticks? Whatever happened to a fist fight?!", the Red Hood apoplectically venting his anger.

The Red Hood flew into slashing range and started to swing the blade in wild rage. Dick was able to dodge most of them, but was nicked once or twice. Most blades don't cut through the kevlar weave, but this knife was sharp enough to slash through it like ribbons. Dick tried to jab the Red Hood in the chest with his escrima baton, but his forearm was slashed by the blade and it went dead. Dick tried to back out of range but the Red Hood kept slashing, putting pressure on him.

Dick finally brought the baton down to block the knife, but the Red Hood dodged the baton and slashed the side of Dick's torso, and was going to ram the knife in between Dick's ribs, but Dick roared in pain, and blindly smashed the escrima baton down upon the Red Hood's helmet, smashing it into two. The Red Hood and Dick fell backwards, Dick clutching his side in agony, the Red Hood pulling apart his helmet and removing the metal shards from his head. Dick's blood flowed onto the alley, and his blood merged with the Red Hood's. Dick looked up and saw that the Red Hood's helmet was on the ground, shattered and crushed.

Dick pushed himself up but dizziness got the better of him and he slumped back down to the ground again.

"Man…", Dick groaned in pain,

"We really… beat the shit… out of each other…."

"Yeah.", the Red Hood chuckled in agreement, then spluttered and coughed blood.

Dick rolled to his good side and propped himself up against the wall of Ace Chemicals. Dick rose his head and shook some of the blood from his face. His vision slightly cleared up, but only by a fraction. He gazed at the Red Hood, but he wasn't looking at the Red Hood anymore. The Red Hood was on the ground, the man under the red hood however, was propped up against the opposite wall. Tufts of brown hair glistened with sweat, but the rest of his head was glistening with blood. The blood trickled down over his right eye and down his cheek. The left side of his face was much cleaner, with only a few specks of blood and a small cut at his chin. What stood out most was the piercing green eyes. Dick gingerly brought his arm up and touched his earpiece.

"Alfred.. Send help.. Ace Chemicals…"

The exposed man groaned and pushed himself off the wall. He started stepping towards Dick.

Dick tried to push himself off the ground but couldn't.

_Shit!_

He was getting closer. Every footstep that splashed through the pools of blood was louder than before.

Dick tried to scramble his way up but it was no good. His side burned like flaming coals had been forced into his stomach. He slumped down to the ground. All he could do is await his doom.

The man that was under the red hood crouched down into Dick's view and grinned.

He grabbed Dick's head and forced him to stare at his face.

Only then, Dick knew who he was looking at.

"But… but you died?"

"I sure did, Grayson, I sure did."

Dick felt himself being flipped over onto the Red Hood's shoulders, and felt his head sway with every footstep.

_Why is he alive? Why did he kill Tim? Am I going to die?_

And with that, Dick passed out.


	10. Fakes

_**Hey guys, short filler chapter really. Have a f*ckton of work to do, so I barely scraped this one out. Apologies for how bad it is xD**_

_**One Love**_

_**-Supah**_

* * *

><p>Alfred was quietly cleaning up the Batcave when the Bat-computer buzzed into life. A quiet audio message that was near to static was logged on the computer. Alfred strode towards the marvelous supercomputer and promptly sat in the chair in front of it and went to work.<p>

The message was unclear, but Alfred set about to deciphering it. With the power of the computer and Alfred's expertise the audio message was finally clear.

"_Alfred.. Send help.. Ace Chemicals…_"

It was Richard's voice.

"Oh dear!" Alfred muttered. This was most certainly _not _good. The young vigilante was stubborn, he would never cry for help. But now did he did? He's in serious trouble.

Alfred tapped a few buttons on the keyboard and the monitors Alfred placed in the Nightwing suit appeared on screen.

Heavy damage down the right side of the suit. Possibly left by a sword or a knife. The domino mask was completely destroyed, and there was some more light damage left throughout the suit.

Alfred tried to tap into Richard's feed, but the visuals were busted, which Alfred expected due to the unresponsive domino mask. Alfred tapped into the audio feed and it was static, as expected. His earpiece is most likely cracked, causing the irritating noise. Alfred deciphered the audio in the earpiece so he could hear it. It wasn't perfect, but it was clear enough to hear.

Someone was grunting, taking slow, careful footsteps. Was Richard on his way back home.

"_Jesus Christ, Grayson. You are one heavy bastard._"

With the exclamation, there was a loud thud, like a body being dropped.

"Oh no.." Alfred whispered in shock.

_Was the boy dead?_

Alfred stood up rather abruptly.

"I must inform Master Bruce immediately!"

"No need, I'm already getting ready."

Alfred turned his head towards the chamber where the Batsuit is hung, and sure enough, Bruce Wayne was halfway dressed into the suit.

"Why am I not surprised?"

Bruce pulled the cowl on while chuckling.

"I wouldn't know.", Batman smirked.

* * *

><p>Batman dropped out of the Batwing, two thousand feet above the dark silhouette of Gotham.<p>

"Activate detective vision."

With the world soaring past at a thousand feet per minute, Batman's vision turned blue and the audio signal location flashed up, bright orange.

Batman straightened his body up and dropped like a bullet towards the earth. He slammed rather angrily into the ground, frightening the absolute shit out of three lads smoking on the street.

All they said was generally;

"Oh fuck! It's Batman! Holy crap! We'll stop smoking omg."

Batman glared at them, the infamous bat-glare that intimidated anyone and everyone.

The loitering teens had enough and they sprinted away, dropping their joints.

Batman stood up, grunting. He had too long of a rest. Two and a half months of recovering!

The building down the alley was glowing, showing two figures inside.

One figure was armed with a handgun, which the detective vision deduced as a Sig Sauer P226.

Batman deduced him as the Red Hood. The other figure, who was slumped on the floor, presumably unconscious, was deduced as Nightwing. The building was old and abandoned, part of an apartment block.

Batman turned off detective vision and slipped through a shattered window. The hallway was crusting with mold, dirt and rats. The rats screeched and hurried away as Batman stealthy snuck down the hallway.

He armed a batarang and stepped into the dimly lit room where the criminal resided.

"S'up Bruce."

The Red Hood was sitting down on a desk, Nightwing sprawled at wall in the room. Blood covered the Red Hood's face.

"I'm not Bruce.", Batman growled.

"We all know that's a lie."

"Bruce Wayne and Batman are two separate consciences."

The bloodied criminal laughed and started picking some of the crusted blood off his face. His piercing green eyes disgruntled most people who were lucky enough to see them, but Batman's face remained as it was carved in stone.

The criminal continued to peel off the blood, staring at Batman as he did so.

Then Batman recognized him.

"Jason?"

Jason Todd peeled some more blood off his face and threw his head back, laughing delightfully.

"I'm so glad you recog-"

Batman dropped the batarang and punched Jason across the jaw.

"What the fuck was that for?!"

Batman punched him again, and again.

Batman punch him so hard he went flying off the table and slammed into the ground.

"No hug?"

Batman put his foot on Jason's face.

"You died."

"Yeah well, I'm alive again."

"You're just a fake copy."

"Drake was a fake copy of Robin."

Batman forced his boot down to shut up Jason.

"Drake? A fake Robin?", Batman stuttered with rage.

"Jason denied the potential in him. But I believed in him."

"And you let him die?"

Batman stamped his foot back down on fake Jason's jaw.

"Of course I did. Dick left for a year, I found you trying to steal the tyres of the batmobile and I saw a lost boy, who had potential to do great things, be a great hero."

Jason mumbled through the taste of Batman's boot.

"I understand that you tried to save me. But why… Why is the clown still alive?"

"Because I don't condone killing."

"Yet he does? You're going in a loop, you fool! He going to commit mass homicide, you throw him Arkham and someone fucking breaks him out!"

"Then I'll put him back into Arkham."

"You love him, don't you? He's your job! Without him, where would Batman be? It's a crazy love story full of-"

Batman curbstomped the fake Jason into unconsciousness.

"My job is to put down criminals like you, who have no purpose."

Batman tapped a couple of buttons on his gauntlet and the Batwing soared into life above the building. He picked up Dick and fake Jason and dragged them up towards the Batwing. He reached the rooftop and carefully placed Dick into the Batwing. He went to pick up fake Jason but Jason was actually pretending to be unconscious, and he lashed a kick at Batman and rolled off the building.

Batman went to leap off after him but what he didn't notice is that while the Red Hood rolled off he slashed the back of his cowl, making it useless for gliding.

Batman nearly fell off the building, while muttering "shit."

He got up and jumped in the Batwing.

"Take us home Alfred. I won't chase him now, Dick's hurt."

The Batwing soared into the skies like a majestic eagle and fired like a bullet away from the urban dystopia that was Gotham.


	11. Reality?

_**Hey guys, hope you enjoy this one. Next few chapters are the last, this fic has slowly burnt out and it's going to end soon ;-;**_

_**For all y'all enjoying it, thanks so much:D**_

_**One Love  
>-Supah<strong>_

Batman raced through the streets on his motorcycle. The snow was being thrown about in sheets and crashing into Batman like tsunamis. Batman took too sharp a turn in one of the alleys and the side of the motorcycle smashed into a wall. Batman's armour scraped off it but he kept going. He smashed through an old wall of a crumbling building and dropped a story onto the main street and skidded and set off down the street. The warehouse sat atop a small hill and Batman's jaw tightened as he raced towards it. He hit the edge of the hill and dropped off the motorcycle and ran towards the door of the warehouse.

Before it exploded.

Batman was flung backwards and thrown into a solid slab of snow. Batman grunted and rolled over and looked at the explosion.

"Jason…", he muttered, shocked.

"JASON!" He roared as he ran into the flaming wreck of the building.

"JASON! JASON! JASON?"

Batman dug through the bricks like a dog, throwing away clumps of metal sheeting and concrete.

Then he saw Jason's hand.

"Jason!"

He scrambled over to the hand and started pulling the bricks off him but it was too late.

The Boy Wonder is dead….

"_Bruce?_"

The boy is dead…

I've failed him….

"_Bruce?_"

I've….

"Bruce!"

* * *

><p>Bruce jolted awake and looked at Dick who was shaking him.<p>

"You should be healing, Richard…"

"You were screaming, man. You alright?"

"I can't help feeling that the Red Hood's actually Jason.."

"It can't be though?"

Bruce shook his head and placed it in his hands.

"I don't know, Dick…."

Bruce turned in his bed and went to close his eyes but he sighed and rolled over.

"Let's go visit Jason's grave."

* * *

><p>It was three o'clock at night. Bruce was standing in a furry black coat, and a black scarf billowing in the wind dramatically. Dick was behind him, wearing something somewhat similar, except he didn't have a scarf. A black land rover was parked behind them, custom built by Lucius Fox of course. Bruce was staring at the grave for ten minutes, Dick just stood waiting for the man to make the move.<p>

"There's a shovel in the back," Bruce said, breaking the silence.

"Get it."

Dick knew he'd say this. He saw him drag the shovel out of the manor when they departed twenty minutes ago.

Dick silently walked up to the rover and opened the back door. He effortlessly pulled the shovel out and slammed the door shut. He turned and passed it to his mentor. Dick had seen Bruce work out before, he even saw Bruce tending to the garden with Alfred once or twice, but he never saw Bruce physically work. Bruce plowed through the damp soil and got rid of the first two feet in minutes. He continued with his work and he continued to be consistent. He soon was standing in the grave, a pile of dirt dumped to the right. He was standing atop of Jason's grave.

The wood was broken and cracked. Quick inspection showed that someone had to punch their way out of the coffin to batter the coffin up so particularly. That or body snatchers were beginning to make their rise again. Bruce deduced that body snatchers were ridiculous.

"Well?", Dick injected, interrupting his train of thought.

"Jason was definitely resurrected."

"But that's impossible! Unless.."

"The Lazarus Pit, yes. He stumbled into it somehow where he regained his memory but he most likely wasn't brought there in a body bag."

"So he should be dead?"

"Yes, but there is only one other possibility."

"That being?"

Bruce sighed as he hopped out of the grave.

"Superman is one of the most powerful beings this universe has ever seen. His abilities range far and wide. He has one very strange power that the Flash possesses. He can break through the fragments of reality."

Dick almost choked on the gum he was chewing.

"You mean to tell me, that Kal-El can break reality?"

"Both Kal-El and Barry Allen can do this. Superman's having no actual logical explanation. Barry's however, he hits a speed beyond measurement and actually travels in time."

"But that doesn't affect reality?"

"That's where you're wrong. The simple act of time travel can cause irreversible consequences."

Dick grunted, staring at Jason's gravestone.

"So are you going to talk to the League of Assassins about the Lazarus Pit or Superman about breaking reality?"

"None."

"Why?"

Bruce turned and walked towards the rover.

"I'm going to find Jason and I'm going to break him for all the trouble he's caused in Gotham."

"Trouble?", Dick asked while turning to get into the rover.

"He's stirred up relations with Black Mask and some of the biggest dealers in Gotham. When the shit hits the fan, a potential gang war is on the cards."

"How are you going to stop it?", Dick asked as he jumped into the passenger side.

"I can't," Grimly said Bruce as he pulled out of the graveyard.

"The cuts are too deep."


	12. The First Day Before The Storm

_The Next Night…_

Black Mask was sitting in a bare room. The only objects in the room was two chairs, one either of side of a table placed in it. Three criminals loyal to the Black Mask stood propped up against the far wall.

Roland Desmond walked in, sporting a dashing suit and a cane which he held in his gigantic fist.

"You're late, Desmond. This meeting was scheduled five minutes ago."

Roland grinned as he sat down in the chair.

"Had stuff to do, Sionis."

Black Mask tipped his head and his eyes told Roland that he wanted to punch him.

"What do you want anyways, Sionis? I'm a busy man, I'm sure you didn't call this meeting for a staring contest."

"Heh," Sionis chuckled. Then he slammed his fists down and got serious.

"The Red Hood has his thumb over some of my boys. Money is disappearing and I'm getting no answers for it. I want to see if anything of the sorts happened to you."

Roland chuckled upon hearing this. He simply couldn't keep a straight face staring at Sionis wearing a stupid mask.

"I'm based in Blühaven, mate. My deals aren't affected by this Red Hood."

"Really?", Black Mask questioned.

"Then what was your 'stuff to do' that delayed this meeting?"

Roland grinned again while raising an eyebrow.

"I had to speak to a potential operative. I've big plans down the line."

"Not involving my trade, I hope.", Black Mask spat.

"Actually," Roland smirked, with a glint in his eye.

"I'll think you'll be very interested of what I have to offer to you."

Black Mask went to press further about his big plans but Roland changed the subject.

"My potential operative has dealt with the Red Hood before hand. He can be intimidating, is untrustworthy and is full of shit. That is all I know." Roland stood up and walked towards the door.

"I'd hate to keep you busy from your work, Sionis. We'll talk soon."

Roland left and it was just Black Mask and his three gun-toting thugs.

Black Mask carefully pulled a Smith & Wesson M&P 22 Compact handgun out from his jacket holster and sat sideways, looking at the criminals.

"You boys…. You boys wouldn't happen to have spoke to the Red Hood?"

The three thugs started jittering. These three men were the criminals that accompanied Skullface to meet with the Red Hood.

"Ey? Nope! Never seen 'im in my life!", one of the thugs nervously stated.

"You're dying fir-" Black Mask's sadistic quote was cut off by a thug who opened fire on him.

The bullets sprayed everywhere except where Black Mask was sitting and he put a bullet through the firing thug's head.

"Any last words?"

The other two criminals slumped to the ground against the wall wailing.

"Skully! Skully made me do it!"

Ever since the Black Mask kicked Skullface out of his old gang the 'False Facers' Skullface never really got over it.

"Please don't kill me! Please, I'll do anything!"

"Here's a start. Get up off your worthless asses and stop crying!"

The criminals scrambled up and saluted. Like idiots.

"I've a family to feed, sir! Please…"

Black Mask shrugged and shot the guy in the face. The remaining man tried his very best not to let his bladder loose, and began shaking like he was diagnosed with parkinson's.

"You know, I'll have to let one of you live. To send the Red Hood a message."

He gasped in relief. He was going to li-

"I'll have a chat with Skullface about it.", Black Mask said bluntly, and shot the man before he could grovel anymore.

* * *

><p><strong>"<strong>**_Boss! He knows!"_**

Jason yawned and rolled off his makeshift bed in an abandoned apartment.

"Whuh?" He yawned sleepily into his phone.

"_Black Mask! He knows we've infiltrated him!_"

It was Skullface, obviously freaking out.

"How does he know?"

"_I don't fucking know! He just shot the others after he met with this guy called Roland or something and said he's coming after me! What do I do?_"

"Kill him."

"_Whut?_"

"Kill him! Shoot him, throw gasoline over him and light a cig, feed him to sharks!"

"_What if he has shark repellent?_"

Jason gave his phone a weird look.

"The fuck? Who carries shark repellent?"

"_I dunno man, I'm just paranoid!_"

"Well snap out of it or I'll snap your spine!"

Jason hung up and dialed another number.

"_Hello?_"

"Roland, I've heard you had a meeting with the Black Mask."

Roland chuckled, he did a lot of that. It got annoying sometimes.

"_You hear everything, boy! Yeah, ol' Sionis called me into a meeting._"

"About what?"

"_He wanted to know if you had interfered with my business._"

"What did you say?"

"_I can't sell my boy out can I? You got big plans I wanna be a part of._"

"Batman's going to crack down on me hard, Roland. If I stumble I'm expecting you to pick this operation up."

"_It'd only be my pleasure._"


	13. The Last Day Before The Storm

_**Sorry for the filler really xD  
>Just trying to lay down some bad atmosphere, you know? xD<strong>_

_**Sequel to this horrible mess coming soon, but I've an actual plan for the sequel  
>It'll be called '<strong>__**Anarky of Gotham**__**'**_

_**Guess who's in it? *wink wink***_

_**One Love**_

**_-Supah_**

Batman dropped out of the batwing high above Gotham. Jason messaged Bruce's facebook page, calling him out to Crime Alley. Bruce deleted all traces of the message so he could keep his identity safe from the authorities. He geared up as Batman and waited for the night to roll across the skies of Gotham.

He plummeted towards the ground like a bullet and slammed into the ground.

A man was kneeling where Thomas and Martha Wayne were killed, holding a rose. His helmet was white instead of red.

"Jason?"

"Have to say," Skullface said as he stood up and dropped the rose at his feet.

"Never even thought that Bruce Wayne would of been Batman," He said as he turned.

"But to think that Bruce Wayne has been trained by an immortal assassin? That he knows every single martial art style known to man? Amazing."

Batman growled and dropped his head into a glare.

"Bruce Wayne and Batman are very different people."

"They're the same people, no? Different consciences, but a whole person."

Batman stepped into range of Skullface. Skullface pulled out two crowbars from an open backpack on his back, which also held a baseball bat.

Skullface swung with his right arm. Batman stepped out of range but Skullface spun in the air and tried to hit Batman again. Batman caught him by surprise and tackled him out of the air.

Batman and Skullface collided into the cold concrete. Batman was the quickest to react by swiftly throwing a leg across Skullface's body and started the deliver a beat down.

Someone grabbed him from behind and tossed him overhead and Batman landed on his head twenty yards back. Batman rolled to his back and flipped himself up.

Deathstroke stood beside Skullface who now had a boost in confidence. Batman went to approach them when a third, new figure dropped from the rooftops.

"Zeiss."

Philo Zeiss glared at Batman. He had a peculiar hairstyle that was dyed pitch black. He was wearing a black trenchcoat which had a red collar that extended into a red scarf. Even though Zeiss looked incredibly stupid, he was a formidable foe. He has implanted optic goggles instead of eyes that glows in a faint red, an enhanced spinal column and optic nerves.

The trio advanced, with Deathstroke leading.

"Want some help to even the odds?"

It was Nightwing, looking better than ever.

Philo had his optic goggles set on Batman, while Deathstroke turned to face Nightwing. Skullface awkwardly stood in between as the two highly trained hired assassin's squared off with the two highly trained vigilantes.

"What do I do?", Skullface hurriedly whispered to Deathstroke.

"Prepare for the storm. It's about to hit."

With that, the Red Hood appeared at the far entrance of the alley with a bunch of ragtag criminals, and a couple of Black Mask thugs whose masks were roughly spray-painted red instead of black.

At the closer end of the alley, a sea of loyal Black Mask thugs flooded into the alley.

The storm hit.


	14. The Brawl

**Last two/three chapters going up soon:D Thanks for all that enjoyed this spontaneous mess.**

**One Love**

**-Supah**

Philo leaped into range of Batman and started throwing fists and feet. First swing was a high right arm haymaker aimed right for Batman's head which Batman blocked with his left forearm and responded with a quick right jab aimed for Philo's solar plexus but Philo twisted out of the way, dodging the jab. Batman swung a left hook aimed for Philo's head but Skullface barrelled into Batman's side, jabbing the crowbars into his side painfully. Batman stumbled but managed to grab Skullface and suplex him into the wall of the alley. Skullface crowbars clattered across the alley. Batman turned to Philo and saw the massive horde of ragtag criminals that The Red Hood was charging in front of and was horrified to see a large black sea of Black Mask criminals leak in the alley behind them.

Nightwing was consistently dodged Deathstroke's quick strikes, and Deathstroke was getting slightly irritated, and drew his sword.

"Got a new sword, I see?", Nightwing cockily grinned.

"It has yet to taste blood; and this sword craves for yours."

"Thats really creepy dude. I'm going to get a pizza after I kick your ass."

Deathstroke slightly faltered, letting the sword droop.

"Is.. Is that an insult?"

Skullface scrambled up the wall, his back aching. Batman was having a lightning quick exchange with Philo. Skullface pushed himself off the wall and was going to attack Batman again when a ragtag criminal grabbed him and started beating him down.

"I'm on your side!", Skullface screeched but the criminal didn't listen and threw Skullface to the ground. The criminal was going to curbstomp Skullface when a batarang sliced through the air, clattered off the criminal's temple and he dropped unconscious.

Skullface turned his head and saw that Batman was still battling Philo at impossible speeds, and yet he saved him? In the midst of an intense fight?

Nightwing dodged the incoming blade, but Deathstroke was hellbent on slaying the twenty year old. The blade sliced through the air and attempted to slice Nightwing's head off, but Nightwing ducked. The blade was beginning to put pressure on Nightwing, making him duck and weave and jump. Deathstroke was trying to wear Nightwing out. A bullet streaked through the air aimed at Nightwing but Nightwing heard the shot and reacted immediately, twisting out of the bullet's way while twisting from Deathstroke's blade. The bullet clattered into Deathstroke's armour and Deathstroke glared at the triggerman. It was a Black Mask goon and Deathstroke ran at the goon. He put his sword back into his sheath as the first blood was meant for Nightwing and he kicked the goon in the chest. He stepped over the gone and went to crush his skull with his boot. Nightwing used this distraction to equip his escrima batons and shock Deathstroke. The assassin dropped to his knees and Nightwing pulled the blade out from the sheath and clattered it sideways off the wall and it shattered. Deathstroke quickly spun and grabbed a shard of the blade that was suspended in the air and sliced across Nightwing's chest.

"Oh you son of a bitch!", Nightwing exclaimed as he stumbled backwards.

"This blade had to experience at least a drop of blood, vigilante."

"You're fucked up man."

Batman still couldn't advance towards being able to down Philo. His optics could always predict his next move, and Batman was always quick enough to block Philo's next move.

"I won't stop until you're defeated, Wayne."

Philo chuckled as he tried to land a combination of a jab and cross, following up with an uppercut and another cross, but Batman deflected the first jab and pushed Philo back using deadly combination of jabs and kicks. Batman called the martial art Tsunemoto, in honour of the assassin who taught him.

Philo was unfamiliar to the fighting style, and as Batman expected, he started to shrink backwards. Batman then proceeded to fight in a very erratic manner, changing disciplines before Philo could recognise which discipline he was using. Philo was barely able to hold his own against the Dark Knight now, as he suddenly became unpredictable. A criminal ran behind Batman and swung a crowbar aimed for his back. Batman turned while launching a nin-jitsu kick at Philo and grabbed the crowbar out of the criminal's hands. Batman turned the nin-jitsu kick into a two touch and clattered his boot into Philo's jaw. Philo stumbled backwards and stubbornly attacked Batman by tossing his knee towards Batman's jaw. Batman just took a step back while cracking the criminal behind him lightly and he dropped unconscious. Philo dropped and he kind of twisted his ankle. Philo hopped and tried to grab Batman's head but Batman jammed the crowbar into Philo's solar plexus.

"You got sloppy, Zeiss."

Batman cracked the crowbar across Philo's jaw and his jaw shattered.

Philo tried to scream but the jaw made it a hundred times more painful and Batman jammed two fingers into his neck and the pressure points dropped him.

"Sweet dreams."

Batman turned to help Nightwing fight Deathstroke but someone tried to shoot him in the back. He narrowly dodged the bullet and turned to see the Red Hood.

"Going somewhere?"

Nightwing twisted his way out of Deathstroke's quick punches. Deathstroke began to throw hard punches, some of which Nightwing couldn't avoid. One jab into the solar plexus and an uppercut and Nightwing ended up on the concrete, amidst the riot.

Riot?

Oh yeah, Black Mask's gang and the Red Hood's gang. They were tearing each other up. Some of them were bleeding out, someone of them were scrapping. It was a mess.

Deathstroke advanced towards the downed vigilante and went incapacitate him with his boot. Nightwing used his aikido techniques, rose and grabbed Deathstroke by the shoulder and flipped him to the ground. Deathstroke scrambled up but Nightwing switched to Jeet Kune Do. He started to lay several kicks into Deathstroke's back, but Deathstroke quickly adapted to the fighting style and started responding by switching into karate. The two highly trained and skilled fighters began to fight into a standstill.

Batman threw a batarang at the Red Hood, but he dodged it and he went to shoot Batman again. The batarang spun in mid air and fired at the back of the Red Hood's hand, knocking the gun to the floor.

The Red Hood lunged towards the weapon and Batman lunged at the Red Hood. The two collided with each other and they rolled over, the Red Hood atop of Batman. The Red Hood slid out his knife and tried to plunge it into Batman's throat but Batman grabbed his arms and held the knife aloft, which was centimeters above his adam's apple.

Apparently all of the criminals were out to get Skullface. The Red Hood's gang and Black Mask's gang all wanted him dead.

"So this is what happens to me when I sell my gang down the river. I get caught in the crossfire."

A Black Mask goon came running towards Skullface, but Skullface was expecting it and he lashed out and smashed the goon's mask and broke his nose under it. The goon dropped to his knees and Skullface smashed his knee into the goon's chin. The goon dropped, unconscious. Skullface looked around and saw the Red Hood atop of Batman. The two were struggling to gain control of a knife which was pointed at Batman's throat, but the Red Hood was winning.

Skullface pulled his baseball out from his bag and advanced towards the two struggling combatants. A Red Hood goon came sprinting at him with a hatchet in hand, but Skullface smashed the goon's wrist and the hatchet fell to the ground. The goon followed, screaming in pain. Skullface was going to cave the goon's head, but he remembered how Batman saved him. He didn't kill. Skullface left the goon screaming. Skullface ran at the Red Hood and smashed the baseball bat across the Red Hood's back.

The Red Hood yelled in agony and let go of the knife. Batman tossed the knife away and nutted the Red Hood and the helmet cracked. Batman headbutted the helmet again and the helmet split in two.

"God fucking damn it! Second fucking broken fucking helmet! Fuck sake!"

Batman kneed Jason and flipped him over.

"You're over. This plan is too weak."

Jason spit blood into Batman's face. Batman grabbed him, slammed him against the wall and knocked him unconscious.

"Alfred, send in the Batwing!"

Nightwing was exhausted, and he was beginning to see that Deathstroke was exhausted too. The two men couldn't outdo each other. Deathstroke punched at Nightwing but Nightwing deflected it and kneed Deathstroke in the stomach. Deathstroke headbutted Nightwing and Nightwing flopped backwards. Deathstroke kicked him in the head and went to curbstomp the vigilante when Batman appeared out of nowhere and punched Deathstroke in the helmet so hard the helmet shattered. Batman then caught Deathstroke in a sleeper hold and a couple of seconds later the assassin slumped.

The Batwing soared over the alley, and all of the remaining thugs that was arguing ran as fast as they could to escape.

"Let's take a trip to Arkham."


	15. Square One

**_Sorry for such an abrupt ending, but I've a lot more projects to do, including the the sequel(not really a sequel)_****_Anarky of Gotham_****_. So totally check that out, I've an actual plot for it! :D_**

**_One Love_**

**_-Supah_**

_2 weeks later….._

Dick opened the door of Bruce's study.

"You called?"

Bruce was sitting down at his table, rubbing his temples.

"I'm worried, Dick."

"Why?", Dick said while sitting down.

"Two of the deadliest assassins in Gotham know who we are."

"How would they know?"

"Jason told them."

"But why?"

"I don't really know, Dick.", Bruce sighed.

"Why doesn't everyone know then?"

"Philo Zeiss and Slade Wilson aren't stupid people. This information is valuable to them, because it is highly likely that someone will order them to try assassinate Batman. The only problem is that they have no proof that it is me, so even if they assassinate me in my sleep, they can't tell their client that they killed Bruce Wayne. Because none of them will be suspicious."

"What about Zeiss? He always seems to have a thing about proving himself to be a better tactician and fighter than Batman?"

"But the question lingers, is he a better fighter than Bruce Wayne? Zeiss wants to kill Batman and once he's done that he'll make the whole world know it."

"So that brings us back to square one?"

"I do hope so. Jason's plan was a weak mess and Black Mask couldn't be happier he's locked in Arkham."

Dick grinned, finally things were back to normal.

"We patrolling tonight, boss?"

"Absolutely not, I've banned you from patrolling for a month _three months _ago. You are still due that punishment, Richard."

"You've got to be joking me!"

Bruce grinned and his voice deepened as if he was Batman.

"_Go back to Bludhaven, Nightwing. This is my city._"


End file.
